Defense Department report does not say if Norfolk will lose aircraft carrier

Military

January 28, 2010|By By Hugh Lessig | 247-7821

U.S. Sen. Jim Webb urged caution Thursday over a draft report that recommends another East Coast port for aircraft carriers, but stops short of saying that Norfolk should lose one in the process.

A December draft of the Quadrennial Defense Review recommends another East Coast port to dock carriers "to mitigate the risk of a man-made or natural disaster." But it doesn't specify a location or whether the port should be a permanent carrier base.

The final QDR is due out next week from the Defense Department.

Naval Station Norfolk is now the only East Coast home for carriers, but Navy leaders have supported a plan to base another carrier at Naval Station Mayport, near Jacksonville, Fla., which has accommodated carriers in the past.

Spreading the fleet lowers the risk of decimating losses from a single attack, accident or natural disaster, they said.

Virginia leaders oppose reviving Mayport as a permanent carrier base, saying it makes no strategic or fiscal sense. And if the Navy were to move a carrier out of Norfolk, it would cost Hampton Roads thousands of jobs.

Webb said the QDR report is only a draft.

"I think we need to be careful quoting anything out of this document until it is actually released," he said during a conference call with reporters to discuss President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech.

Webb said it would cost too much money to renovate Mayport given the Navy's other needs, and the importance of dispersing the fleet is overstated.

Rep. Ander Crenshaw, of Florida, who supports a carrier move to Mayport, also urged caution.

"Multiple drafts of the QDR are in circulation now, and it's important to remember that until the official QDR is released by the Department of Defense early next week, these are draft reports," he said. "Everything until next week is speculation."

The generalized language can be interpreted different ways, said Frank Roberts, executive director of the Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance.

On the one hand, it would allow the Navy to "take a graceful step backward" if a second home port is seen as unnecessary. Or it could give the Navy latitude to develop other plans.